From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

I watched:

WE ARE THE 80'S

WE ARE THE 80'S

WE ARE THE 80'S

WE ARE THE 80'S

CHARLIE'S ANGELS:
"The Vegas Connection". A rich housewife steals money from her
husband and loses it all (on purpose) at poker. She doesn't want to
tell the girls that she is being blackmailed.

HART TO HART:
"The Raid". When a researcher is kidnapped in a South American country
by an old adversary of Jonathan's, he undertakes to personally deliver
the ransom and ensure the safety of the researcher and his pregnant
wife.

FANTASY ISLAND
• "The Beachcomber". Under tremendous pressure from his job and family, Charles Preston chucks it all to be a beachcomber

• "The Last Whodunit". devoted fan Mabel Jarvis of a mystery writer
tries to find out who killed her, acting out the writer's final
unfinished manuscript.

FAMILY GUY:
"Let The Goodtimes Walk". A powerful sleeping medication gives Joe the
ability to walk while he is asleep, but Joe grows concerned when it
becomes clear that the guys prefer his sleepwalking self.

Wow, I liked this one! I wasn't very surprised that Quagmire made a
"Peter's Shenanigans" kit and a return to his peervery self.

What did you watch?
--
Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
love this country.



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On May 11, 2026 at 1:30:41 AM PDT, "Ubiquitous" <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:

What did you watch?

A movie on the Netflix starring Charlize Theron called APEX. She plays an outdoorsy adrenaline junky who goes on a solo camping/hiking/kayaking trip through the Australian outback and catches the attention of local psychopath (Taron Egerton) who stalks her for prey.


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BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

A movie on the Netflix starring Charlize Theron called APEX. She plays an >outdoorsy adrenaline junky who goes on a solo camping/hiking/kayaking trip >through the Australian outback and catches the attention of local psychopath >(Taron Egerton) who stalks her for prey.

Positive or negative?
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

Verily, in article <UBI20260510S@dont-email.me>, did weberm@polaris.net deliver unto us this message:

FAMILY GUY:
"Let The Goodtimes Walk". A powerful sleeping medication gives Joe the ability to walk while he is asleep, but Joe grows concerned when it
becomes clear that the guys prefer his sleepwalking self.

Wow, I liked this one! I wasn't very surprised that Quagmire made a
"Peter's Shenanigans" kit and a return to his peervery self.

What did you watch?

I also watched the new Family Guy. IMO it was decent, which made it
pretty good compared to some recent efforts.
--
The True Melissa - Canal Winchester - Ohio
United States of America - North America - Earth
Solar System - Milky Way - Local Group
Virgo Cluster - Laniakea Supercluster - Cosmos
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On May 11, 2026 at 4:16:38 PM PDT, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

A movie on the Netflix starring Charlize Theron called APEX. She plays an
outdoorsy adrenaline junky who goes on a solo camping/hiking/kayaking trip >> through the Australian outback and catches the attention of local psychopath >> (Taron Egerton) who stalks her for prey.

Positive or negative?

Generally positive. Charlize has looked better, though. Kinda ragged here.


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On 5/11/2026 4:16 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

A movie on the Netflix starring Charlize Theron called APEX. She plays an
outdoorsy adrenaline junky who goes on a solo camping/hiking/kayaking trip >> through the Australian outback and catches the attention of local psychopath >> (Taron Egerton) who stalks her for prey.

Positive or negative?

It's an OK turn your brain off and enjoy the ride type of flick.


This is a multiday catch up. Over the last few days, I watched:


Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (4K disc) The movie opens with
a crawl talking about the blockade of the strait of Hormuz, I mean
planet of Naboo. Then there is white noise until the John Williams
music begins to play "Duel of the Fates" and Darth Maul engages in an
epic light saber battle between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Then
when the fight was over there was white noise again. I've heard rumors
that apparently stuff that happens before and after the light saber
battle, but those rumors have to be taken with a grain of salt because
those same rumors also claim Darth Vader built C-3P0. And that's just
too absurd for words.


Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (4K disc) Natalie Portman
stars as an older woman who falls in love and sleeps with the little boy
she used to babysit. And yet this movie is better than The Phantom
Menace. Go figure.


Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (4K disc) The rise and fall
of Anakin Skywalker as he murders a room full of children to prove his
love for the older woman who used to babysit but now is pregnant with
his child. If they had to catch a predator in the Star Wars universe to
go after predators like Padmé, Darth Vader would never have happened.


Solo: A Star Wars Story (Disney+) Back story for Han Solo. The movie
clearly establishes that Han always shoots first! This was a pretty
good movie that sadly didn't find an audience during its' initial release.


Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Disney+) The back story of the team that
stole the blueprints for the Death Star. This is a near perfect movie.


Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (4K disc) A group of rabble-rousers
try to overthrow the legitimately elected democratic government headed
by a Mr. Palpatine and replace it with an unelected monarchy headed by a so-called Princess Leia. I have it on good authority that this Leia
person's biological father is a mass murderer. Is that really the type
of person you want in charge? When there is that nice old man Palpatine
who was viciously attacked and mutilated by those evil Jedi. At least
that's what the news reports on the Palpatine News Network (PNN) said happened.


The Empire Strikes Back (4K disc) Another perfect movie. It is
scientifically not possible to ever get tired of watching this movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAHW7TF4Tyo


Return of the Jedi (4K disc) Those rabble-rousers are back trying to
overthrow the legitimately elected democratic government run by Mr.
Palpatine and this time they blew up a construction project full of
innocent contractors just doing their job. I'll admit it, I miss the
yub nub song and I'm not happy they replaced it on the new special
edition. LOL And what's with replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen? That just feels wrong. And I sure how the Shaw family
isn't losing out on any residuals as a result.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4MVQby0InQ


Man on Fire (Netflix) New TV series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as
John Creasy, a washed up, suicidal, former special forces soldier who is
hired by an old friend to provide protection in Brazil. I watched the
first three episode and by episode 3, Creasy is on a revenge fueled
killing spree in Brazil. Most people are probably most familiar with
the 2004 Denzel Washington movie of the same name. I don't want to get
deep into spoilers, but there are a few changes from the movie. I don't
know if the series is closer to the original novel or not, but the
changes don't really hurt anything, they just make it a little
different. But both versions have Creasy go on a killing spree in Latin American against organized criminals. In the movie it was kidnappers,
as of episode 3, it is not entirely clear the nature of the criminals or
their motive. That's what Creasy is killing and torturing people to
find out.


As an aside, tickets for the Star Wars Celebration went on sale a few
days ago. I knew tickets would sale out, but wow. They sold out
ridiculously fast in a just a few hours. I was one of the few who
lucked out and managed to get tickets. But there has been wall to wall
online rage over how the tickets got snatched so quickly by scalpers.
Maybe they shouldn't have let people buy 20 tickets at a time! The
company running the convention is promising to go after the scalpers and
make things right, but we'll see. Next year's celebration will be the
50th anniversary so it is expected to be epic. And I will be there. 😊
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On May 11, 2026 at 5:52:26 PM PDT, "Arthur Lipscomb" <arthur@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:

On 5/11/2026 4:16 PM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

A movie on the Netflix starring Charlize Theron called APEX. She plays an >>> outdoorsy adrenaline junky who goes on a solo camping/hiking/kayaking trip >>> through the Australian outback and catches the attention of local psychopath
(Taron Egerton) who stalks her for prey.

Positive or negative?

It's an OK turn your brain off and enjoy the ride type of flick.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (4K disc) Natalie Portman
stars as an older woman who falls in love and sleeps with the little boy
she used to babysit.

Every boy who was ever hot for teacher loves this movie.

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (4K disc) A group of rabble-rousers
try to overthrow the legitimately elected democratic government headed
by a Mr. Palpatine and replace it with an unelected monarchy headed by a so-called Princess Leia. I have it on good authority that this Leia person's biological father is a mass murderer. Is that really the type
of person you want in charge? When there is that nice old man Palpatine
who was viciously attacked and mutilated by those evil Jedi. At least that's what the news reports on the Palpatine News Network (PNN) said happened.

And let's talk about this whole "Alderaan is peaceful; we have no weapons" business. "Alderaan is peaceful" is true in the same sense that "the United States has never fought a war in South America" is true. It's absolute nonsense!

Alderaan in fact used its economic power and its sterling diplomatic
reputation in the Senate to stir up wars all over the galaxy. Proxy wars against the Empire of which Alderaan was a legitimate subject.

Two of the leading members of the rebellion against the Empire were Senator Bail Organa and his adopted daughter Leia, herself a sympathizer of the outlawed Jedi religious terrorist organization.

The Empire was the lawful galactic sovereign, due to emergency legislation proposed by Senator Binks and passed overwhelmingly by the Senate giving Chancellor Palpatine authority to reform the corrupt government of the
Republic as he saw fit. This included dissolution of the council and
delegation of power to regional governors.

Alderaan, one planet among millions, chose to rebel against the Mr.
Palpatine's lawful decrees, even going so far as to fund armed fighters and cruisers attacking Imperial libraries. Who attacks a library? A religious fanatic terrorist, that's who. It's just like the burning of the library of Alexandria. That's what Alderaan stands for. No better than the Christian terrorists of the 4th century, or ISIS today, blowing up ancient monuments.

And where were the rebels getting their funding? From Alderaan, which, while technically weaponless, was buying them on a mass scale and covertly
delivering them to the Rebellion. This is exactly the sort of "plausible deniability" the Soviet Union relied on in funding guerrilla wars in Asia and Africa, wars which killed millions. That's right. The government of Alderaan were no better than communist authoritarians.

Even their own ships, like the Tantive IV, commanded by Captain Antilles and carrying traitor Princess Leia on her so-called "mercy mission", were heavily armed, with more blaster-wielding troops than actual crew. Fortunately, Mr. Palpatine's stormtroopers were better armed and trained than the thugs aboard Antilles's ship.

I'm proud that Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin showed the traitors of Alderaan that Imperial justice and the rule of law still matters.

Return of the Jedi (4K disc) Those rabble-rousers are back trying to overthrow the legitimately elected democratic government run by Mr. Palpatine and this time they blew up a construction project full of
innocent contractors just doing their job. I'll admit it, I miss the
yub nub song and I'm not happy they replaced it on the new special
edition. LOL And what's with replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen? That just feels wrong. And I sure how the Shaw family
isn't losing out on any residuals as a result.

The whole Force ghost scene at the end was ridiculous from the start. Having Anakin show up as a Force ghost at all was problematic and dubbing in Hayden Christiansen only added to the plot problems.

(1) Vader was an evil killing machine for ~30 years, responsible for the most appalling crimes (slaughtering the children at the Jedi Temple, participating in the annihilation of the billions of people on Alderaan, etc.). He does one good thing and saves his son from Mr. Palpatine (which, while good, is also self-serving, so not purely good) and suddenly he's not only completely redeemed for the billions he killed and tortured but he's given the ultimate after-life reward? Doesn't seem like any kind of justice to me.

(2) How did Anakin even know how to become a Force ghost in the first place? Qui-Gon had to train Yoda how to do it, who in turn trained Obi-Wan. It’s heavily implied that it takes significant preparation and knowledge of the Light Side to accomplish, none of which Vader would have known about or, as a Sith, been able to accomplish even if he did know. When he 'killed' Obi-Wan on the Death Star, he was confused and caught off guard when Obi-Wan vanished. Vader had no idea what had happened to him. Then a year or so later, he
himself manages to pull it off and become a Force ghost? No, it doesn't pass the smell test.

(3) Replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christiansen was also nonsensical because neither Yoda nor Obi-Wan appeared as their younger selves. Their
ghosts appeared just as they looked when they died. Why would Vader be the
only one who was not only rewarded with ghostship, but given the additional gift of being returned to his self when he was in his prime?


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